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May's election is set to be a two horse race across the North East Ukip have claimed.

Launching their North East election campaign the party said it was to field MPs in each of the regions 29 seats and drew up clear battle lines between the party and Labour, who MEP Jonathan Arnott claimed are Ukip’s only opponent.

Reluctant to put a number on how many seats the party will win in May, Mr Arnott said he expects a ‘good’ performance in Wansbeck and is ‘quietly confident’ the party can capture the Hartlepool constituency.

In his speech launching the campaign, Mr Arnott said: “Some people will welcome us with open arms, others will hurl abuse and lies but nobody can ignore us.

“We’ve got a tough fight here in the North East but not against the Liberal Democrats, whose support has collapsed, and it’s not really against the Conservatives who across huge swathes of the North East electorate are still blamed going back all the way to the miners strike.

“We fight against Labour which has dominated this region for decades and, if we do not take the fight to Labour who will?”

And would-be MPs were sent away armed with beer mats in a bid to reach more voters.

Mr Arnott said the party does not have a North East specific manifesto but said raising the threshold at which people start paying income tax, curbing immigration and dualling the A1 were among the party’s priorities which he claimed were popular among constituents in the North East.

The region's MEP Jonathan Arnott

When asked how many MPs would have following the May 7 election Mr Arnott would not be drawn.

However, he added: “I’m not a betting man but I think a lot of people in the party are quietly confident we will take Hartlepool.”

Elsewhere he said the party had a ‘phenomenal’ response while canvassing in Blyth and right down the coast as far as Redcar.

Last week Ukip leader Nigel Farage sparked outrage after claiming non-UK nationals with HIV should be forced to pay for their own treatment to help cut costs to the NHS, comments which Mr Arnott supported.

He said: “The point is we should have a National Health Service, not an international health service.

“If someone comes into the UK there is a decision the UK has to take, is this person going to make the UK better?

“If there’s going to be substantial health care costs our view is that somebody coming into the UK should be in a position to pay for their own health.”

He added: “The majority of people with HIV in the UK are foreign born.”